Liam Twomey (Fine Gael)

I know it suits Government Members to seek consensus now. For the first time in my eight years in the Houses I have started to hear the word being uttered. Perhaps the issue is worthy of debate because the need for consensus in Northern Ireland was put to the people in a referendum. For the people to buy into something, they need to feel part of it, but the Government does not have their confidence. The Government insults the electorate by asking it to become part of government by consensus. HOwever, consensus is being sought in making certain sacrifices. Perhaps the Government should bring forward a budget and call a general election on its four-year budget plan in order that the people could decide. If the current incumbents, Fianna Fáil and the Green Party, were to lose the election and not be part of the next Government, they could then offer their support to that Government for the following four years to implement the plan. In the way they talk about consensus Government Members are insulting the intelligence of the electorate and being driven by a narrow agenda being pushed by a minority. The Government needs to step back and look at what it is doing. We do not have and have never had that type of government. When Mr. Alan Dukes did it, he did it in very specific circumstances at the beginning of the life of a Government.